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Ed Miliband in Crewe

Richard Hoffmann, Labour Party member from Sandbach said, I was in the audience with Ed Miliband on February 28th at Pickmere Court in Crewe. He spoke for a short while and then opened up the floor to questions. He said they could be as easy or difficult as people wanted to ask him.

Many good questions came forward, several about the NHS and elderly social care.

I got to tell Ed about my unemployment situation, mentioning the depression I suffered/ still suffer after losing my job in 2008. I told my frustration about having spent over £2000 on HGV driver training, yet having got my licence, I am now discriminated by employers, because I don't have any experience, and therefore the insurance costs to too much for me for an employer to pay. Yet how was I supposed to get experience if no-one would give it to me?

Ed listened, and was very sympathetic to my situation, and said how if he were in power now, he would guarantee me, as a long term unemployed person a full time job, where the government would pay my wages for the first year.

Ed really does come across as a caring, genuinely nice person who has a great vision about making Britain a fairer society to live in. You really had to be there to hear him; he said so many good things.

He did say that he would continue to fight against the bedroom tax, and that he would look at whether it could be scrapped if/when they come to power in May 2015.

There was an amusing bit where an old lady said that in her view the only good Tory was a dead one! Ed laughed, and said that naturally he couldn't agree with her on that point for the obvious reasons.

The final question he answered was about how people could trust politicians again. He replied that one of the things he wouldn't do was to make promises now that he couldn't keep in the future, otherwise he would be just like Nick Clegg. He said that the most important thing was for him, and the rest of the Shadow Cabinet to come out and meet the public and have many more Q&A sessions up and down the country, so they can hear real people's stories and views.

He said Labour has learnt from its mistake of getting rid of the 10% tax rate, and that was one of the reasons they lost the Crewe by election.

What can I say, I really like the guy! At the end he said he despaired at the thought of Cameron staying in power for another five years, and what he would end up doing to this country.

All in all, a really enjoyable afternoon listening to the man who is going to be our next Prime Minister.